What South African executives earn vs the world
Executives at top companies across the world earn an average salary of R25.2 million (€1.45 million), according tor research from Penderson & Partners.
The research firm noted that this is an increase of 3.8% over the previous year. This compensation comprises an average base salary of R12.4 million (€711,600) and an annual bonus of R12.8 million (€738,400).
The data covers 1,800 top executives in 340 companies from 18 countries.
Globally, executives in the USA receive the highest compensation, followed by execs in Western Europe.
The largest salaries in emerging economies come from countries such as China, India and South Africa – but these are “considerably lower” than the western nations.
South African exec salaries
A recent report by financial services company, PwC revealed the average salaries of top executives in South Africa.
The group found that CEOs earn a median salary of R4.13 million, CFOs earn R3.66 million and executive directors earn R2.57 million. This is an overall average of around R3.45 million.
Looking at CEOs outside of the JSE, salary information group Payscale lists the median CEO salary at R1.04 million, based on 720 reported CEO salaries.
This is based on total packages between R422,699 and R2,688,420.
Previous research found that the average South African earns about R178,000 annually – however more than half the population earns less than R3,500 a month.
| Group | Average Salary |
|---|---|
| Global Executive | R25.2 million |
| JSE Executive | R3.45 million |
| SA Executive | R1.04 million |
| SA Average | R178,000 |
Despite the relatively low South African average – the country has its fair share of executives which earn far higher than the global average.
For its 2015 financial year, SAB Miller paid its chief executive Alan Clark £7.07 million (R152 million at the time), making him as best paid executive on the JSE.
Other top earners in the country include BHP Billiton’s Andrew MacKenzie (R113.4 million), Old Mutual’s Julian Roberts (R90.6 million) and Anglo American’s Mark Cutifani (R80.0 million) – all of whom earn far above the global average.
Currency exchange rate taken at EUR 1 = ZAR 17.40
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